Longmont Times Call: Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic

Colorado man allegedly planned to kill Obama, children on Halloween

A 20-year-old Westminster man who allegedly said he wanted to go down in history as the person who killed President Barack Obama is in federal custody.

The suspect, Mitchell Kusick, also allegedly had plans to kill school children on Halloween at Standley Lake High School, according to court documents.

Kusick told his therapist he stole a rifle from his aunt and uncle's home, which he was planning to use to kill the children, in hopes of luring police into a firefight, according to documents.

Kusick said he was a fan of snipers and "studied" the Aurora movie theater shooting. In addition, he claimed his mother, who is in the mental health field, was a first responder to the Aurora theater shooting.

Kusick, a nursing student at Mesa State University, told his therapist he had trained with a rifle and had been tracking Obama's Colorado visits in hopes of becoming the "guy who killed Obama," documents state.

Kusick was obsessed with the Columbine High School and Virginia Tech massacres and the abduction and murder of Jessica Ridgeway, according to documents.

Kusick said he was fascinated by political assassinations because they are a "major impact" and "changes the course of a nation," accordingto documents.

Kusick admitted his plans to police while in the hospital on a mental health hold, documents state.

Kusick was arrested for "interference for threatening to shoot children in Jeffco Schools," documents state.

Advertisement

The Jefferson County School District filed a restraining order against Kusick on Friday.

In a statement released Tuesday, the school district said: "Working with law enforcement, Jeffco Schools learned of a man who was allegedly threatening students at Standley Lake High School's Trick or Treat Street event. Police acted quickly to take the man into custody before the event. At no time were children attending the event in any danger from the suspect because he was already in police custody. We appreciate the swift response from law enforcement and Jeffco district security which helped keep our students safe."

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story